This past Easter weekend saw bloodletting of the worst order.
There were six murders in the span of eight days, dating back to last Wednesday, April 4, when there had been none reported in the previous two weeks.
There were three attempted murders as well.
Business owners struggled to contend with criminals seeking easy money by ripping off their stores; home owners gone to spend the holidays elsewhere returned to find their sanctuaries broken into, and there were various “stickups” reported around the country, a total of 14 in all.
Additionally, there were three reported drowning incidents and two fatal traffic accidents.
The following is a short chronicle of the various incidents, some of which are covered more fully elsewhere in this issue.
Murders
Belize entered April with just 21 murders reported, well behind the pace set in 2011.
But around 4:00 p.m. on April 4, Michael James Garbutt, 23, was shot three times in the head on Albert Street, the assailant cornering him and shooting him twice in his head as he lay on the ground,
About 24 hours later, Lerone Johnson, 22, was fatally shot after being lured into a street in the Fabers Road Extension area while on an errand for his employer.
Holy Saturday saw the snuffing out of a once notorious street figure. Herman Lanza, 37, was shot and killed near the corner of Casuarina and Poinsettia Streets in the first of two incidents in the Lake Independence area. Lanza, who had served time but claimed to be reformed, was shot eight times with both a shotgun and 9mm pistol by his assailants.
Two days later, on Easter Monday night, Kevin Pott, 22, was gunned down while walking with his girlfriend Shanice Rowland, 18, near Brick City Barber Shop; she survived a wound to her right breast.
Shortly thereafter, in Hattieville, Eleno Requena, 32, was shot down while walking on the Colonel English Bridge on the Western Highway along with a ten-year-old minor who sustained an injury to his left foot.
And in a case of assault reported the previous week in Hattieville, Jeff Garnett, 60, died on Tuesday morning; his case was upgraded to murder.
Attempted Murders
Police reported last Wednesday that Chrisdale Courtney, 16, of Sibun Street, was shot in his right thigh by one of two assailants who walked past his yard while he was with his family and fired four times in his direction.
Then on Holy Saturday, April 7, Joseph O’Brien, 20, and Dashey Williams, 14, were at a Banak Street address along with another minor, 14, when three armed men with dark skin entered and asked for Tyrone Meighan, the second minor’s older brother. They shot O’Brien in the right leg and Williams in his right leg and ankle after being told that Tyrone was not there.
Early on Tuesday morning, April 10, Michael Alexander Young, 23, was shot in the upper left side of his back at the corner of McKay Boulevard and Mahogany Street. Police recovered an amazing sixteen 9mm shells from the scene, and Young is hospitalized in critical but stable condition.
Robberies and Burglaries
Belizeans have, unfortunately, become somewhat used to having to guard against potential robberies and burglaries of their homes and premises, but the thieves worked hard and often, not even waiting for Easter to come to take advantage.
The spree began with a report on Tuesday, April 3, by photographer and co-owner of Venus Photo Studio, Jose Javier, 33, who reported that two men, one of whom carried a firearm, entered the Bishop Street establishment and took his black HP laptop.
Virginia Casanova, 49, of Vernon Street, was robbed by four dark-skinned men on April 1 while walking by the Lords Ridge Cemetery. She lost her handbag and various personal items to the thieves at gunpoint.
Shian Bradley, 27, a domestic of Mayflower Street, was robbed of her gold chain and Blackberry cell phone on Fairweather Street around 8:40 p.m. on April 4, while she was waiting for her cousin in her vehicle. The assailant was on bicycle and rode off afterward.
Peter Morgan, 39, a customer representative and resident of King Street, was robbed in his own yard around 9:15 p.m. on April 3. Two dark-skinned men stole two bags from him containing 24 single tennis shoes and clothing costing him $3,900.
Paula’s Store on Cemetery Road was hit around 9:30 a.m. on Holy Thursday by two men who took cash and valuables from a customer and two employees in the store. Police detained one person based on evidence from a surveillance camera and seek another.
Over the Easter weekend itself, two home invasions were reported. Janet Arnold, 56, of Seashore Drive, had her house invaded between 12:30 Holy Thursday afternoon and 4:30 Easter Monday evening, in the course of which electronics and jewelry were taken. Between 5:00 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. in the same time frame, Joseph Kee, a businessman of Queen Street, was hit for appliances, clothing, men’s cologne and other items along with his white Lincoln Towncar.
The spree was not confined to the Belize District. In Corozal, taxi operator Pedro Chable, 57, of Corozal Town, reported a burglary at his residence on Holy Saturday, losing cash and jewelry, and Angelo Pasos, businessman and co-owner of White Sapphire on 7th Avenue in town was robbed along with worker Jose Martin Rodriguez by three armed Hispanic men on Tuesday around 2:30 p.m. The Orange Walk businessman lost 125 Digicell and Smart cell phones and Rodriguez his gold chain to the thieves, who got away in a tinted white car.
San Felipe, Orange Walk resident Adalid Wicab, a cane farmer, took his family to Chetumal for Easter on Holy Saturday afternoon. He told police that his residence was secured, but returned in the evening to find it broken into. He lost $5,000 in cash, a gold bracelet with an alligator design and a gold chain. Police have identified two men of interest in their investigations.
In Belmopan, the offices of Belize Water Services Limited (BWSL) were burgled on Tuesday evening around 5:20. Gabriela Pinto, 46, the cashier, saw three dark-skinned men enter, one of whom took out a firearm resembling a 9mm pistol. She handed over a grey Belize Bank deposit bag containing money, whereupon the men escaped. Some $17,000 was reported as being taken. Another burglary was reported by Belmopan resident Carissa Escalante, 22, on behalf of her cousin Delmaree Fairweather, whose house on Caracol Street was hit between mid-morning on Easter Monday and late on Tuesday, with three flat screen television sets worth $6,400 being stolen.
Further west in San Ignacio, a park manager for the National Institute of Culture and History (NICH) and Santa Elena Town resident Santos Simeon Gonzalez, 30, was walking on the La Loma Luz Boulevard around 6:45 a.m. en route to the Western Highway when he saw a grey Saturn ahead of him. A Creole man with a mask on his face exited and ran at him with a 9mm pistol in his right hand, which he pointed at him, demanding he hand over a bag he was carrying. The black school bag contained a gold wedding ring with a white stone and the engraved initials “KS”, along with $1,510 belonging to NICH and the Government of Belize and $1,100 of his personal money, two phone chargers and a wallet with documents.
And finally in Dangriga, on April 11, 2012 around 7:05 p.m., acting upon information received, Police visited New Site Pomona Shopping Center where Guo Cheng Xu, a Chinese businessman, reported that three male persons armed with a sawed off shotgun entered the establishment and took the cash register with an undisclosed amount of money and made good their escape. Police investigations continue into all the above reported incidents where no arrests were reported.
Asked for an official comment on the crime wave that swept across Belize this past weekend, Minister of National Security John Saldivar told Amandala this afternoon, “We are stepping up policing efforts in affected areas, intensifying investigation and intelligence gathering efforts, and continuing dialogue with gangs to resolve conflicts and maintain the truce.”